When a friend gave me a hot tip off about a site with potential buried treasure in Tasmania, I had to go. Even better was that the alleged treasure was that of the man whom ‘Fagin’ the from the famous book Oliver Twist was based on! The evil Fagin character in Oliver Twist is based on the real life Ikey Soloman, a highly successful dealer in stolen property and famous English criminal. (scroll to the bottom to watch the video)
Ikey decided to take a boat to Tasmania to go visit his wife Ann and their kids who had been sent with her. Due to his notoriety as a thief in England, Ikey was immediately recognised upon arrival in Tasmania as well as by many of his convicted criminal friends. The governor of Hobart wanted to arrest Ikey, but couldn’t without getting a warrant from England. The warrant would take over a year to arrive.
During this time of freedom in Hobart, Ikey got up to his old tricks and started selling stolen goods. He lived with his wife and family again in a home until he was again arrested with the arrival of the warrant just over a year later. Ikey was sent back to England, put on trial that was a huge sensation at the time, found guilty and then sent back to Hobart as a convict. Here is a link if you want to learn more about Ikey Soloman: click here
It is said that Ikey had plenty of stolen treasure with him and that he most likely buried them in the yard around his house in case he was arrested.
The hot tip was that my friend had found the house that Ikey Soloman lived at with his family before being arrested and sent back to England. And, also he got permission for me to go metal detecting on the property.
I immediately booked my flight and headed down to Tasmania to see what treasures Ikey had buried just waiting to be found. This was exciting so I brought my camera and filmed the adventure.
Below is the video of the trip to Tasmania and the metal detecting treasure hunt’s I did while down there. I Hope you enjoy watching 🙂 BTH